Returning refugees get back to work in their
fieldsFAO photos/C.Ferrand

Throughout the conflict in Kosovo, FAO has been
closely monitoring the food security needs in the Province
as well as in Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. The Organization has launched special appeals for
funding of emergency programmes to assist Albanian and
Macedonian families who hosted refugees during the crisis
and Kosovar farmers who are now returning to their
fields.

The appeal has recently been scaled back in light of the
return of most of the Kosovar refugees to their homes. FAO
is now appealing for US$3 million and $1.5 million for host
families in Albania and Macedonia, respectively. Hosting
Kosovar refugees has put a severe burden on the already
food-insecure families in northeastern Albania and western
Macedonia. Funds from the emergency assistance programme
will be used to provide them with agricultural inputs for
the autumn planting.

FAO emergency programmes in the region will also
concentrate on assisting returning Kosovar farm families
resume agricultural production. The Organization has made an
appeal for US$22 million to cover agricultural assistance
for the period July to December 1999. Some 70 500 families
(700 000 people) are expected to benefit from the proposed
emergency programme. Beneficiaries have been selected based
on their access to land and the degree of destruction their
houses and farms suffered during the conflict.

Efforts will focus on helping Kosovar farmers plant
winter wheat. Each municipality in the province will receive
wheat seed and fertilizer based on 1998 planted/harvested
areas. These inputs are expected to yield up to 190 000
tonnes of grain in June 2000. The requirements for wheat
seed have been met, but only about 17 percent of the 8 850
tonnes of fertilizer needed has been pledged so far.

Other proposed activities in the emergency assistance
programme have yet to receive any funding. Funds are needed
for an immediate project to distribute spinach and cabbage
seeds for autumn planting in Kosovo's mediterranean climatic
zones. A laboratory to control seed selection and quality
would also be set up as an essential facility for the
Province. Also, funds are urgently needed to get tractors
and other farm equipment, which are in extremely poor
condition throughout Kosovo, up and running again in time
for the spring planting season.

The creation of an Emergency Coordinating Unit to
coordinate agricultural relief operations throughout the
entire province is an essential component of the assistance
programme. The Unit, based in Pristina, will be made up of a
multidisciplinary team of international experts in agronomy,
animal production and farm mechanization. A centralized
agricultural information system is being established to
guarantee the best use of available resources and provide
guidance to non-governmental organizations involved in
agricultural relief efforts in Kosovo. This component of the
Kosovo assistance programme is also facing a funding
shortfall, as current pledges amount to only $80 000, just
over 10 percent of the required $766 000 required to
maintain the Emergency Coordinating Unit's operations
through to the autumn 2000 growing season.

Funds for relief operations in Kosovo are needed
immediately if farmers are to be able to plant crops in the
autumn and reap a harvest next year. "The proposed
agricultural assistance will not only help to decrease the
food aid requirements for the year 2000," said Bauer, "but
it will also help to restore to the war-affected population
the basic human right to produce their own food and feed
themselves."

GIEWS report highlights "grim"
prospects for Kosovo crops this year

More than 90 percent of the total number of
Kosovar refugees reported at the height of the
crisis in early June 1999 were back home by late
July, according to a GIEWS Special Report on
food security and agriculture in the
Province.

"Massive international assistance" is
essential in the short term, says the report, as
over 700 000 refugees return en masse to
severely damaged homes and farms. Over one
million internally displaced persons who stayed
behind in the Province throughout the conflict
also are in need of international aid.

The latest information gathered by assessment
missions to the Province "largely confirms the
grim picture already expected", says the report.
Overall wheat production is down between 40 and
60 percent - more than 60 percent in the
worst-affected areas, such as the Drenica
triangle. Only 20 percent of the normal maize
areas has been planted, and vegetable production
is "almost non-existent" in many areas and very
limited in others.

"The movement of food into the Province must
be rapid in the coming weeks," warns the report,
as domestic food production falls far short of
consumption requirements and any food stocks
dating from before the conflict are almost
completely exhausted throughout Kosovo.

In the areas where food production was most
severely reduced, according to the report, food
aid will be required to cover the bulk of food
needs until spring 2000, if not beyond.